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The curtains closed after the choir and the risers were hurried off the stage to be replaced by chairs and stands. The Concert Band rushed on right after a brief warm up and the curtains were torn open. The room filled with sound and soon enough, it was time for the Symphonic Band to hurry on and play several songs. The Symphonic Band, led by Daniel Upton, and Concert Band, led by Claire Leeper, had a successful concert Thursday, Dec.13.

“I definitely think that [tonight] was one of the more strong concert band performances that we’ve had in the [band’s] history, [at least] since I’ve been here. I’m really, really happy with the balance of the ensemble and the articulation overall,” Leeper said.

Symphonic Band played five pieces and Concert Band played three. Both band directors were proud with the final performance that was produced from months of classes and outside practices of the pieces.

“The band did very well. They stepped it up today and put on an excellent performance. I really appreciated their efforts and their level of musicianship [the past few days],” Upton said. “We hadn’t seen each other since Friday [the seventh] and we had rehearsal [Wednesday the twelfth] after school, so it was [only] a little bit of time but they worked really hard and had an awesome performance.”

Leeper gave a reason as to why this particular concert is important to those involved, but Upton refused to put this concert any higher in his rankings of concerts.

“All concerts are important to me. No performance is less [important] than any other performance,” Upton said. “It’s an opportunity for the students to get better than the time [they last performed], an opportunity for them to experience as much repertoire as possible, and to really come together as a really fantastic ensemble.”

Each time, a different set of songs is performed, with different goals in mind.

“I wanted to give a balance between upbeat and fun and also lyrical. A lot of the stuff we’re doing right now is preparation for our assessment pieces and I wanted to make sure that [the concert band] saw all sorts of different styles and keys, [as well as] different time signatures to just get a sampling of everything that’s to come,” Leeper said.

While the performance went well, according to both directors, there can always be more done to improve one’s performance.

“[The students] could always practice more, always, always, always. There’s never too much practice,” Upton said. “Music is one of those things where you can strive for perfection but perfection never really happens so we’re always working to be better than the time before.”